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Monthly Archives: March 2014

I know I’ve already done a music blog before, but recently, music has been pushing me through a lot of things. Whether it be a bad day, while I’m in the gym, or on my Spring Break Service Trip…I’ve been jamming these songs and albums nonstop. And I decided to share them with you! Hopefully these can spice up your iTunes and get you through whatever you may be going through in your life.

Young the Giant – Mind Over Matter (album)
So, so, so good. I bought it a few weeks ago and I can’t stop listening to it! My favorite tracks are Mind Over Matter and Anagram.

John Denver
I’m not a big country or oldies fan, but John Denver’s music is phenomenal. It’s so uplifting and it makes me wish summer were here so I could drive with the windows down, blasting his songs, with the warm sunshine all around me.

Miracles – Norwegian Recycling
Heard this on my service at Naz Farm in WV a few weeks ago (you’ll hear more about that next blog) and it instantly brightens my mood. They mashed a whole bunch of songs together to make this one…so it samples artists like Michael Jackson, JT, Survivor, Gnarls Barkley, etc. If you’re having a bad day, this is a good song to turn it around.

Panic! At the Disco – Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die (album)
Everyone remembers this band, right? Well, they’re pretty different now from when they first started with their breakout song, I Write Sins Not Tragedies way back in 2005. This album is basically the Brendan Urie one man show now since most members have left the band, but in all honesty…he doesn’t really need anyone else but himself. Because this album is pretty great. Definitely a must have if you like electronic, synthy, pop punky music.

A Day to Remember – Same Book, But Never the Same Page
The lyrics are what make me like this song so much. And the fact that it’s angry and loud enough for me to blast in the gym to pump me up.

The Fray – Hold My Hand
I wanted to put their whole new album on here, but I figured the stand out track off of it would do just fine. It’s the “typical Fray” style that they normally stick to, but it has enough differences to make it sound new and refreshing.

The 1975 – The City
This band is gaining more popularity here in America & I’m really happy about it. You can hear the lead singer’s accent while he’s singing (something I greatly appreciate) and it’ll make ya wanna get up and dance. You can check the 1975 out at Lollapalooza this summer!

Jenny & Tyler – This is Just So Beautiful
Again, the lyrics are what draw me to this song. It’s about forgiveness, moving on, and realizing the beauty in life. Try not to cry the first time you listen to it…I bet you won’t be able to!

The Calling – Our Lives
Throwing it back to the 2000’s with this one! I can’t remember where I first heard this song…but the lyrics mean more to me now than they did all those years ago.
“Cause these are the days worth living.
These are the years we’re given.
And these are the moments, these are the times.
Let’s make the best out of our lives.”

Fall Out Boy – Save Rock and Roll (album)
I have been a hot and cold fan of FOB since I can remember first listening to their music, but I think this new album persuaded me to start appreciating their music a little more. Fall Out Boy parted ways a few years back, and the hiatus definitely gave them some time to come back bigger and better than ever. This whole album is just really, REALLY good. And there’s even a cameo on the title track from Sir Elton John. Can it get any better???

Me and Lizzy at the gym in High School, you can tell the lack of seriousness

Did you know…

It’s been found: Americans are becoming healthier. Yes, over the past decade or so we have been known for becoming more and more obese but the trend is starting to correct itself. In high school, I always did excel gym and would push myself in the sports I took part in but I did not really have a personal drive to work out. It was pretty much the same story when I first started here at St Xavier. I went to the fitness classes (zumba, cardio kickboxing, nike training, ab blast and yoga are heaven sent) every week and worked really hard there but had no outside motivation or time put in.

And people, let me tell you, the Freshmen 15 is SO real its scary. The first thing that I did when I started noticing the physical weight gain was fix my eating habit. The diner has healthy options, but it also has greasy comfort food. I also stopped drinking juice everyday. I read in this ladies blog that is really cool that fruit juice is one of the highest empty calorie things you can consume. This shocked me and I started only drinking water and coffee with occasional indulgences. However, this really made no impact and my health remained the same.

When I came back from winter break- a time I spent hiking, sledding, and going to shows- I was refreshed and started going to the gym more. I used to run cross country but I hadn’t tried to run continuously in awhile and doing so really lit a fire inside of me. I had forgotten what the runners high felt like. My body was not quite what it used to be. I have been running a lot recently and have developed a true appreciation for the mental preparation and control that’s needed to run long distances. I just finished spending 2 hours in the gym, 1 hour was spent straight lifting and the other was lifting weights.

Let me tell you, I feel REFRESHED after a day like today! The first time I started going back to the gym I was only able to run for 20 minutes and was DYING afterwards. Now, even after the gym when before my body would be aching and all I would want to do is sleep, I feel light and renewed. Anything is possible to an extent and one can always get better. Everything in life is done best if one builds themselves to higher points instead of trying to start at them.

I hope that everyone had a great weekend this past weekend! I spent most of my time working on this huge presentation project that is due Thursday. I can’t wait until this semester begins to come to a close, because I am honestly becoming fatigued and worn out. So many projects being due, group presentations, individual projects, work, making time for friends and family. It becomes really exhausting, but that’s what college life is all about, making time for everything and the funny part is that I haven’t fallen behind in my classes, which is great!

I love all of my family and friends, but sometimes I feel as though I am being pulled in every direction, without any time for myself to just collect my thoughts. This is probably my fault, because I can easily say no, but it’s harder than what it seems. Telling people no, who wants to hangout with you and who’s had your back through everything that you’ve been through is pretty tough. I’m working on it more and more and I rarely complain, it’s sometimes very tough and I am completely drained. With school, work, dealing with different personalities and helping my mom move, people just don’t know how demanding that is, if you’ve never been through it before. I am a very nice person, which makes it hard for me to say no and I don’t want to come off as being mean, but sometimes I just need a break to figure things out for me.

Sometimes one simple word is what is needed to but things in its proper perspective. This is all I need sometimes, just to breathe! It helps a lot, trust me. This is what I have to remember when I get too stressed out, breathe. It gives you time to collect your thoughts somewhat and gives you some time to yourself.

Something that really helps me out is meditation. It’s one of the best things in the world, in my opinion! Just sitting back and zoning everything out, the world, class, etc. To me, meditation can be a lot of things. People driving around in their car to think, listening to their music zoning everything out, or just sitting in a quiet, peaceful area. Whatever the case may be, it’s a great way to clear your head from any distractions, negativity, etc. I love meditating and it helps me tremendously, because now it’s a little over a month left for the semester, so now it’s time to grind this on out!

Ultimately, I feel as though everyone needs a vacation at this point! Hopefully this is where I will be in the future, just to get away from it all for a little bit. I hope that everyone has a great week and weekend as well!

Okay guys, so this blog post is going to be about the ways in which, as a Freshmen with only one provided microwave and toaster oven for the entire hall, one can feed themselves late at night, early in the morning, or times like this, when i’m just feeling super lazy and dont want to change out of my pajamas to go to the diner.

So, there’s obviously Ramen, easy mac, oatmeal, and pretty much any other preprepared microwaveable product that would be an easy fix. However, trust me, after a while, you get sick and tired of eating pizza rolls. That’s why, the best thing you can do, is figure out when you get here what kind of things you miss eating from home and how you can recreate them! Personally, I try to make as much stuff for myself as I can because the diner food doesn’t aim to necessarily be healthy and keep my body looking hot.

Here are some of the recipes that I like:

1. Oatmeal, Peanut butter balls! I’m actaully pretty positive this is not the legitimate name but my friend amanda makes them all the time and they are great! It’s just oatmeal, peanut butter, nuts, flax seed, vanilla, honey, and anything else thrown into a bowl, mixed together and then formed into balls. This treat is a no bake, instantly ready snack that is healthy and yummy!

2. Apple slices! Okay, so I know you read that one and you’re like “yeah Danielle, you can totally eat apple slices easily and without anything other than an apple and a knife” BUT, my favorite thing to do with apple slices is put stuff on top of them. Grab some fruit from the diner and top it with peanut butter, craisins, coconut, nutella, granola, chopped nuts, etc. The possibilities are endless!

3. Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt! This one I found on pintrest way back when and it is one of my favorite deserts all time. Here’s how you make it: add 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 tbsp sweetener, 1 tbsp mini chips, and 1/4 tsp vanilla to Greek yogurt. This snack tastes legitimately like cookie dough, takes 5 minutes at most to prepare, and is a lot lower calorie than real cookie dough!

4. Fruit pops! This is another thing my friend amanda and I love to do. Get some fruit, I prefer kiwi, but literally anything you want. Cut it into pieces and stick the pieces on popsicle sticks. Next, you need melted chocolate and you just coat the fruit in that. You then put the fruit covered in chocolate on wax paper in your freezer (or just turn your fridge up really high) and wait for the chocolate to harden!

5. Microwave Cheesecake! Okay, so this one i’ve only done twice and have yet to perfect it quite yet but man, the possibilities!

and here’s the step by step directions on how to make it: http://www.2stews.com/2009/09/cheesecake-in-mug.html

6. English muffin pizza! These are so awesome! It’s like a bagel bite but better ingredients and made by yourself! All you need is an english muffin, pizza sauce, cheese, and any other toppings you enjoy. Simply throw it together like a pizza and then pop it in the toaster oven for a bit on 350, mke sure you monitor it!

There are so many other types of recipes that you can make in the dorms room with some ingredients and creativity! I hope you enjoy these recipes and let me know how they go if you try them out, and also let me know if you have any other cool recipes for me to try

I hope that everyone, who went on Spring Break last week had a great week! Just rest, relaxation and chilling is what is most definitely needed through the grind of being in college! It’s hard to believe that Spring Break is already over with. It feels like it just started, but with that comes on a month and a half more of classes and than finally Summer Break. At else something to look forward too, I guess.

In a way, I am glad to be back in school. It was great having a week long break from classes, but the bad part was that I was the only one out of all of my friends that I had Spring Break last week. Sitting around like the baby in the picture was me all week long. With all of my friends in classes all week and having to study for their midterms or finals, depending what school they go to, I was left with nothing better to do other than play video games, which is something that I rarely do these days. Even on the weekend, I was left with nothing to do. It’s kind of not the same if you go somewhere and you’re all alone! This will possibly go down as the worst Spring Break I’ve ever had. There’s always next year.

Although my Spring Break was pretty bad, I did get a chance to film a PSA for one of my friends for his class. It was a great opportunity to gain even more experience in that field and even though I’m nowhere near close to being the next John Singleton or Steven Spielberg, the video still came out looking good! Gaining experience in anything is always a good thing and becoming more versatile is even better. Nowadays you can’t just be a one dimensional person. You have to be able to do multiple things, even if it’s not something that you signed up for. I’m that I got the opportunity to achieve that and help a friend out in the process.

Hopefully I do something awesome this weekend! This quote I could not put any better myself. Life is far too short to sit on the sidelines and watch it go by. If you have something that you truly want to tell someone, you should. You never want that opportunity to slip through your fingertips. You never know when you’ll ever have that chance again, so take advantage of it. I’m not telling people to go out and act crazy and take dumb risks. However, if you like someone or you have a strong passion for doing something, why wait? Try to achieve those goals and accomplishments. You never know, it might be the best thing that ever happened to you! With that said, I hope that everyone has a great week and weekend!

Sooooo the reason why I haven’t posted in awhile is because I have been extremely busy lately. I’ve been in and out of meetings, studying for midterms, working extra shifts…but don’t feel too bad for me. I did have a little bit of fun with friends and family when I turned 21 on March 1st!!

Besides all of that, another thing that I have been doing lately is interviewing! Every February and March here at SXU, students begin applying to become student leaders for various departments within the university. The three main ones are Residence Life, Campus Ministry, and Campus Life. So these are your positions like Resident Assistant, Orientation Leader, Peer Minister, etc.

Myself and a few others from our OL team last summer.

Last year was my first time ever applying for something like this and thankfully, I got almost all of the jobs I applied for! What’s cool about these interviews is that they not only aide you in the process of finding an interesting job on campus, but they prepare you for the real world.
That being said, here are some of my tips that I’ve learned about interviewing over the past few years. *Disclaimer: these are based upon my own personal opinion and they may or may not work. But hopefully they do!

1) Dress Professionally
Sweatpants, jeans, gym shoes, revealing clothing, flip flops are not allowed. First appearances are everything. It’s sad to say, but people judge you based on the way that you look. Sometimes all you get is one chance to make a good impression and dressing well can convey confidence and professionalism. Dressing badly can convey laziness and immaturity.

2) Shake Hands
It looks good, just do it.

3) Answer Honestly
One of my biggest pieces of advice I can give to you is this: Do NOT tell people what you think they want to hear. I’ve been totally guilty of doing this in the past, but what I have learned over the past few years is that organizations want to hire you based on your attributes and beliefs. Not what you think they want you to portray. When you’re interviewing for a specific position, there’s about a 200% chance that the people who are asking you questions have asked that same one to about ten other people before you. So they know when people are showing them who they truly are, or are just pretending to be someone that they’re not. So just be you!

4) Take Time to Answer Questions
Don’t feel like you need to answer every question thrown your way right after it is asked. Take a moment to think it through, then start speaking. Rushing through your answers can fluster you and make you lose your train of thought.

5) Smile and Make Eye Contact
An obvious no brainer! But people sometimes forget to do these things and it really does make a huge difference

6) Just Relax and Have Fun
So you may not think having fun can actually happen while you’re in the middle of an interview, but I promise, it does. Especially if you relax and go with the flow. It’s so easy to get caught up in your nervousness and anxiety, but if you just breathe, everything just goes a lot smoother. There are less mistakes made, less awkward things said, more clarity…and who doesn’t want that??

Follow these and I promise, you will go out there and rock your interview!

Yesterday was my birthday, and man was it a good one! I’m usually always sad on my birthday, I don’t know why but I am. So, I wasn’t expecting much. However, at midnight, my wonderful loving friends showered me with presents (okay, so 4 people did, but I wasn’t expecting anything) and it made me feel very appreciated. I had two friends from high school who were the only people outside of my family who ever gave me gifts because they loved and appreciated me. These things were always kind of small and usually stolen, or they were artwork which i absolutely love and have hanging in my dorm room (shout out to A-hums).

Now, material items don’t define whether or not somebody appreciates me, however, to see the thought behind the gifts- how perfect and excited I got for the gift in general- gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. My friend Amanda got me a super cute dress, but the card that she got me brought me to tears of joy. I am literally amazed by how good of a birthday I had. Everything was provided to me for my celebration and I didn’t even have to ask. My friend Felecia, along with getting me a super cool yoga book, got me a tiara that said “birthday girl” and doused me in confetti 6+ times throughout the school day. Which, angered the janitors and caused everyone in my classes enjoyment as they watched me try to fish confetti out of my shirt.

After having such a wonderful birthday, I am sort of in awe. I have only been at SXU, what, 5 months? Maybe more, but regardless, less than a year and I have met such wonderful people who have given me one of, if not, the best birthdays I’ve ever had. I am so thankful for all the wonderful people I’ve met at this school because they have truly already made such a large impact on my life. My goal for this new year of my life is to find the love within myself. I give a lot and often times feel underappreciated. This birthday showed me I am appreciated. I am going to learn to be okay being alone and to have my deeds behind the scene remain unseen because I AM LOVE. I have enough love within me to love myself fully and love others.

Alas, I am currently in Indiana on my way to Kentucky for my cousins Regionals dance competition so I should probably sleep (seeing as it’s midnight;).

Thank goodness that Spring Break will begin after Friday! It’s something that is most definitely needed to recharge the batteries for a bit to finish this semester off strong. It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s already Spring Break. It feels as though the semester just started a week ago. I know I can’t wait to get the much needed time off to just re-energized again. I love my school and classes, but we all need a little break!

I couldn’t had said this quote better myself! When you’re going through things in your life that get you down, it’s always easier to have people around you who has your best interest at heart. When I was going through personal issues last week, my friends were all there for me completely! Telling me to never give up and to keep my head up through these trying times, as well as to keep striving for greatness! It helps tremendously when you have that much reassurance from your friends and family. We all need a support system and people who are on the sidelines cheering us on every step of the way. To me, no matter how much we all might say that we don’t need anyone, it’s always better to have those people, who are close to you backing you up all the way and never leaving your side through the most trying times in your life. It’s one of the best feelings in the world, and I wouldn’t trade my friends and support system for anything in the world!

To me, we should never get down or disappointed when people decide to turn on us or leave or side when the chips are down. Sometimes, people just aren’t meant to be in our lives for the log-term. They’re put in our lives for a certain point in our lives, for the short-term. Always remember that those people are out of our lives for a reason. If a person can’t accept you at your worst, than they most definitely can’t accept you at your best. I use to get down about people exiting out of my life, but than I realized why should I be down. It’s a good thing that those people left my life. Who knows, I probably wouldn’t be the guy that I am today? I take friendships so much seriously now and it’s a precious thing once you think about it. Nowadays, people become friends with you because it’s something that they can benefit from. It’s something that they can get out of. People aren’t genuine about their friendships, like it used to. With my friends, it’s not like that. They’re there for me when I go through a lot. For that I am always appreciative of that from them. They could’ve left my side, but they didn’t. Having true friends is a great feeling. Always remember, when you have true friends, to never let those people go because they’ll be with you through the good and bad. Fake friends will be will you through the good and you will not hear from them again until the bad times are over! I hope that everyone has a great week and weekend as well!